Oral Anitbiotics

[kateryna]

Hello, I'm a new degu owner, and I'm a vet tech student. We don't really cover degus very much in school so I'm totally lost. I've taken my degu to the vet, and was prescribed oral antibiotics after the injectable Baytril didn't work for the milky white goop coming from my degu's eyes. My vet didn't have a clue what a degu was, nor can I find one who does in my area. I cannot for the life of me give him oral antibiotics. I've even tried putting it in the food, and he won't take it. I've asked my teachers and they don't know what to do either. The medicine is Sulfatrim 0.15 cc orally twice daily for 10 days. He doesn't cough, sneeze, or reverse sneeze. The white goop is rarely seen, as he cleans it almost immediately. He's about 5 years old, and has lived alone for about 3 years after his cagemate died. I feed him mostly timothy hay, some gerbil pellet food, and lots of fresh organic veges. No fruits, no raisins, no sugary type stuff. The sulfa trim is flavored banana cream though. It was either that, bubblegum, or various meat flavors. His activity level is normal, and he is very loving. He doesn't realize he's sick, and I consider myself lucky to have noticed the white goop in the first place. I go to school full time and work full time, as well as take care of my "zoo" at home and my toddler son. Are there any ointments that can be massaged into his ear like cats and dogs? Any eye ointments that can done to cure him? I know that sometimes triple antibiotic eye ointment is used to treat upper respiratory infections in cats because they will groom it off and ingest it. Especially nice for those cats who also won't take oral meds. Can this be done in Degu's? Sorry for the novel.

Kat

[kateryna]

Ok here is an update. We still don't know what infection my degu has, but we sent out a culture of the eye discharge. I found a vet that is about 4 hours from me that specializes in exotics, but they admit limited knowledge on degu's and will treat him like they would a chinchilla. I also found a pharmacy that will charge an arm and a leg and compound any medicine for me into a topical ointment or treat. The pharmacy asked if honey was an ok sweetener for turning the medicine into a treat since I told him sugar was out. He also asked about Splenda brand sweetener that is used here in the USA for diabetics, if it's ok for degu's. These are both questions I cannot answer, nor can either vet. Any help from anyone?
Kat

[diet otaku]

honey is out of the question, but splenda might be ok... although i would just leave out any sweetener as there's no guarantee the degu would like it any better than the medicine alone.

[ra]

Ditto diet otaku. Wouldn't recommend any type of sweetener.

Perhaps putting the oral drops on a small piece of Rye Crisp cracker might entice your Degu to take his medication. My Degu Girls won't eat their Degu pellets when I put a couple of drops of evening primrose oil on them but will eat a piece of Rye Crisp soaked with evening primrose oil.

[Sunshinemeg]

I try the same as ra, and use bran flakes. they are large enough to take a full drop of whatever medicine and are popular with my boys!!! When I had to give Marmalade his antibiotics, he loved taking them with bran flakes!!

[kateryna]

Thank you very much everyone. I will try that before getting the stuff compounded into a topical medication. Was debating on injecting the meds into carrots, his favorite food. Will try the bran and rye first though. Not gonna be easy to inject meds in a carrot lol.
Thank you again,
Kat and Dak

[Sunshinemeg]

Just remembered, it depends if your guy likes peas, but my degu Gromit did, and when we had to give him medication we injected it into a pea!! Worked a treat!!